No, Love Is Not Dead

No, love is not dead in this heart these eyes and this mouth
that announced the start of its own funeral.
Listen, I’ve had enough of the picturesque, the colorful
and the charming.
I love love, its tenderness and cruelty.
My love has only one name, one form.
Everything disappears. All mouths cling to that one.
My love has just one name, one form.
And if someday you remember
O you, form and name of my love,
One day on the ocean between America and Europe,
At the hour when the last ray of light sparkles
on the undulating surface of the waves, or else a stormy night
beneath a tree in the countryside or in a speeding car,
A spring morning on the boulevard Malesherbes,
A rainy day,
Just before going to bed at dawn,
Tell yourself-I order your familiar spirit-that
I alone loved you more and it’s a shame
you didn’t know it.
Tell yourself there’s no need to regret: Ronsard
and Baudelaire before me sang the sorrows
of women old or dead who scorned the purest love.
When you are dead
You will still be lovely and desirable.
I’ll be dead already, completely enclosed in your immortal body,
in your astounding image forever there among the endless marvels
of life and eternity, but if I’m alive,
The sound of your voice, your radiant looks,
Your smell the smell of your hair and many other things
will live on inside me.
In me and I’m not Ronsard or Baudelaire

I’m Robert Desnos who, because I knew
and loved you, 
Is as good as they are.
I’m Robert Desnos who wants to be remembered
On this vile earth for nothing but his love of you.

Robert Desnos, 1900 - 1945

Genesis and My Imagination

            GENESIS

… And then God said, Let us make women in our image, after our likeness: and let them have domination over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle and over all over the earth and over every creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created woman in her own image, in the image of God created she her; female and man created she them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

And God tell her that she can eat all of trees of the Garden of Eden, except the tree of knowledge. God told her that she was a reflection of her in the earth and she was capable of anything she needed. But if she ate from the tree of knowledge, then sin ( which means not obeying the will of God) and death (which makes their life shorter than God’s planned).  And God created man from the rib which is taken from woman. And woman called it man, because he was made from her and he was inferior to her.

In time she started to teach him the land and creatures and the rule of the Garden of Eden. She was adorable; she had all knowledge about all the things as she was a reflection of God in the earth. He was just like a student, he followed her and it took a long time to keep all names in his mind. It was really hard to deal with him; he just couldn’t do anything by himself, so Eve helped him about everything. He couldn’t get water himself, he couldn’t find food and eat himself. Her only fear was that he could confuse the trees and eat the forbidden fruit on purpose.

            And the serpent found him alone and asked him about eating from the tree of knowledge; he said that they could eat every fruit except the fruit of tree of knowledge. Then serpent made him curios about the fruit of the tree. He was confused and he was about to eat the fruit then Eve realized that she left him alone and went next to him and see that he was talking with the serpent. And serpent run away, and Eve told him not to do this again, serpent was a reflection of evil and if they eat from the tree of knowledge then sin and death would enter the earth.

            Finally he understood that she was right. She was a kind of knowledge herself in the earth. And suddenly God appeared to them and told Eve that he and the tree were her tests in the earth, and she passed the tests by being patient and faithful to God. After that God let them to be fruitful and multiply. And Adam turned into a wise man. After all they lived long life as God planned for them and died peacefully when the time came. And human race lived happy life as a true believer thanks to Eve’s faith. 

Response on The Haunted Palace "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Since in Romanticism and Gothic literature depictions are the most important elements, it is crystal clear to see those in Edgar Allan Poe’s works. As many writer use depictions and supplementary elements to make their work great and completed, Poe used many figure to complete his works. Besides many other works of Poe’s, those depictions and figures are the most significant in “The Fall of the House of Usher”, yet I am impressed by this short story the most than all other works. Besides setting, characters, mode and tone of the story, Poe used many other supplementary elements in this story. One of the most influential element is poem, “The Haunted Palace”, with its meaning, it makes plot of the story stronger.

            In the beginning gloomy depiction of the setting gives the gothic sense, characters and the title complete the plot but there are this whole poem which is took place in the short story as it completes plot of the story with its figurative meaning. Throughout this poem, it talks about a palace that used to be great but then the king died and the palace was overrun with the spirits of the dead and its previous glory was destroyed. I think this poem not only talks about a palace but actually it refers to a man. As in the story once Roderick has a normal life but then with his illness which causes his death, his life becomes miserable.

In the greenest of our valleys
By good angels tenanted,
Once a fair and stately palace-
Radiant palace- reared its head.
In the monarch Thought's dominion-

It stood there!
Never seraph spread a pinion
Over fabric half so fair!

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
On its roof did float and flow,
(This- all this- was in the olden time long ago,)
And every gentle air that dallied,
In that sweet day,
Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
A winged odor went away (Poe,123).

The first two stanzas talk about how the palace was excellent. It was beautiful and amazing and had a great king that run the place. To me that the palace represents man and that the king is the soul or mind. As in the story Roderick’s background and personality were beautiful and perfect, his family and ancestors were famous, so this amazing palace represents Roderick Usher.

Wanderers in that happy valley
   Through two luminous windows saw
Spirits moving musically
    To a lute's well-tunèd law,
Round about a throne, where sitting
   (Porphyrogene!)
In state his glory well befitting,
    The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
   Was the fair palace door,
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,
   And sparkling evermore,
A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
   Was but to sing,
In voices of surpassing beauty,
   The wit and wisdom of their king (Poe,123).

            The third and fourth stanzas talk about how wanderers could see this amazing palace and think it was beautiful. It also talks about singers who sing for the king and wanderers.  I take the first part as people who know him and think he’s good person. To me, the singers are the king’s servants so if the mind is the king then the singers are what help the mind. So in this case Madeline is Roderick’s wanderer as she is the only person who lives with him and helps him.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
   Assailed the monarch's high estate;
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
   Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
And, round about his home, the glory
    That blushed and bloomed
Is but a dim-remembered story
    Of the old time entombed.

And travellers now within that valley,
   Through the red-litten windows, see
Vast forms that move fantastically
   To a discordant melody;
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
   Through the pale door,
A hideous throng rush out forever,
    And laugh -- but smile no more (Poe,124).

These stanzas are more dismal than rest of the poem. It tells about how something attacks to the king and captures his abilities and how there’s no chance for him to get better. And it talks about how the palaces greatness and beauty and servants are old memories and can never come back. This makes me think that there was some sort of illness that makes him powerless. So we can say that Roderick was a good man and  in time with his illness he become problematic in the way of action and he and his sister were the only members of the family’, their lineage become corrupted. And since servants and wanderers no more exist we can tie this to Madeline’s death. So as it says ‘Vast forms that move fantastically/ To a discordant melody’ this shows us that Roderick acts unbalance because of his illness he gives overreaction to anything.

To me that poem is the specific part of this short story as it states the basic plot and character analysis itself. It is crystal clear that this poem is tied with whole story and plot itself. And I can explain its importance in a sentence like: how a comma changes the meaning of a sentence.

AKE 223 American West

Mythical West Created by People for Their Own Benefits

            Today almost everybody is familiar to American West in a way. One way or another people watch, read, or listen about western America and main stars of it. When a person is asked about what she or he knows about the Wild West or American west, one of the first thing is cowboys or something related to cowboys. But it is important that in what ways that person depicts the cowboy. In 21^st century what people think or know about cowboy’s are mostly nothing but myth. Owing to novels, magazines, news, and finally Hollywood movies about cowboys make their depiction mythical in time. So today when it comes to any topic about American West or Wild West, the cowboy depiction which occurs in people’s mind is not a real depiction but a mythical depiction of it. And these kinds of depictions were created by people who wanted to benefit from it.

            First of all to talk about mythical image of cowboys and Wild West of America we should know what a myth literally means. It is stated in Oxford dictionary “a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events” (Myth). And Richard Slotkin explains that myth “is the primary language of historical memory: a body of traditional stories that have over time, been used to summarize the course of our collective history and to assign ideological meanings to that history” (Slotkin, Richard).

As a matter of fact myth is a cultural tool which represents fears and expectation of that culture which bonds a society together with common stories and archetypal figures. About the use of myth in modern societies, Jack Lule writes “although modern societies believe they have replaced myth and ritual with science and technology, myth is indispensable for human understanding of the world” (Lule, Jack). To ignore a myth as nothing more than fanciful tale is a prevalent mistake. In reality, myths generally have some sort of historical origin but over time that knowledge can go through a process of “fictional elaboration” (Slotkin, Richard) in which properties of the event or person are exaggerated and thus, history becomes mythical.

            But why do people create things such mythical characters and stories? Actually it is a mixture of a little bit of nationalism, a little bit of local culture, and a little bit of self-interest. Up to now on people created many myths all around the world some of them were just natives who wanted to feel more elated about their history, some were people who wanted to profit from this myth. If topic is American West, it is generally people who tried to profit or capitalize on these myths.

            To realize and understand this cowboy myth, real characteristics of a cowboy must be known. Starting with cowboy’s literally meaning “a man who rides a horse and whose job is to take care of cattle in the western parts of the U.S.”(Cowboy). It is stated “ the tasks associated with the range cattle industry-rounding up cows, branding calves, castrating bulls, breaking horses, and trail drives to railheads or northern pastures- required youth, strength, endurance, and cool courage.”(Goldstock, David).And they were bowlegged because of horse driving so long.

 So they were nothing but young males, who were strong enough to deal with cattle and the harsh conditions of the wilderness. Most of them were living alone since they must have spent most of their time with cattle in wilderness and cattle towns, only a few of them were living with families who works in little towns. Actually it was Spanish people who introduced horses to other people in North America. In time American people combined their own styles and techniques with Spanish style and they created what we call cowboy literally.

Betzwood Cowboys, 1914.

According to David Courtwright “The expansion of the range cattle industry reached its peak in 1885, with perhaps 7.5 million head feeding on the Great Plains north of Texas and New Mexico. The industry thereafter rapidly declined owing to a combination of overgrazing, harsh winters, westward expansion of farming, and barbed-wire fences.”(Courthwrite, David).

 Cowboys were alone during the drive, to protect themselves against wild animals and thefts most of them had gun. But during those times there were many accidents because of many cowboys who used guns without any basic training as it is written “but whatever the cowboys’ gun bought in the way of deterrence and emergency use was paid for by an increase in accidental death and injury”(Goldstock, Ronald). And they were earning approximately $50 per drive and those drives lasted almost a month. This actually was a good wage for that time but none of cowboys were economizer enough to keep the money and live an easy and pleasant life.

Most of them spent their money on gambling, alcohol and woman until the next drive. “When these ricketyyoung men rode into town they hit the saloons, false-fronted palaces full of smoke, gamblers, tubercle, bacilli, and spittoons. There they used their hard-earned wages to treat themselves and their comrades to round and round of drinks, or what they took to be drinks…. The end of trail binges often ended in the red-light district…. Cowboys were equally avid customers of cattle-town prostitutes…” (Courthwrite, David)

 It is crystal clear that basic job is to take care of cattle and to earn money by doing this. In fact cowboys were generally young drunk male who worked for a low price and spent it for drink, game and woman.  How and why did people create a mythical image of cowboy? The answer is mostly people who have a profit from these kinds of images. As these mythical images were used in theatrical shows, TV series, cartoons, and some presidential candidates used it for their own benefit.

            To talk about these mythical cowboy images, the date should return to 19^th century since one of the earliest depiction of Western America and cowboy image occurred in that era, besides all tales of cowboys which were created by society, those were created by a person to benefit from them and at first it was more like in a theatrical sense. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows were its first depictions. William Fredrick Cody presented those shows to earn money and attract more people to come to West. He characterized himself and many cowboys as heroic characters who deal with harsh nature, natives and wild animals. According to Eric V. Sorg “More dime novels were written about him than any other western character, and he mythologized himself as hero of his Wild West show. Like the West itself, the man was a product of the long legacy of romantic thought about the frontier.”(Sorg, Eric). Cowboys were depicted as protectors and heroes of the west who fight with savage natives, and get control of many wild animals by doing several tricks.

                                        

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, 1902.

            After Buffalo Bill’s show in the early 19^th century western movie sector has started to make movies about Western America and cowboys. It was only the beginning of a new genre in movie industry. It was stated in a newspaper as: “Westerns and western stars are still the backbone of the movie industry. When our cireuses found business slip-ping, it was the old Wild West show that brought back the crowds”(western most profitable move). There are several movies of which total grosses are in the list of Best Rentals and Grosses of American Movies which written in American Movies: Top 5 Box Office Hits, 1939 to 1988  (in terms of box office gross ticket sales in U.S. theaters). West side story of 1962 is second with $19,645,570, How the West Was Won of 1963 is the first with $20,932,883, Midnight Cowboy is the third with $20,499,282, and there are many films as Wild Wild West, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly which are really famous at the same time.

            Not only the movies were made but also cartoons. There are many cartoons which have a part to do with creation of mythical cowboy image. Some of them are Marshall BraveStarr is an American Space Western animated television series. Lucky Luke Set in the American Old West, it stars the titular character, Lucky Luke, the cowboy known to “shoot faster than his shadow”. His name is inspired by that of Luciano Locarno, an Italian American sheriff who lived between 1860 and 1940. Desperate Dan is apparently the world’s strongest man, able to lift a cow with one hand. The pillow of his (reinforced) bed is filled with building rubble and his beard is so tough he shaves with a blowtorch. Yosemite Sam is commonly depicted as an extremely grouchy gunslinging prospector, outlaw, pirate, or cowboy with a hair-trigger temper. And Woddy is a stuffed cowboy character that leads the other toys in adventures in the movies.

            As it is mentioned in the essay there is a huge gap between real cowboys, their life, styles, conditions and mythical cowboy’s life, style. Cowboys who lived in late 19^th century were men who tried to earn their money with hard conditions and then most of them wasted their money with alcohol and women, but cowboys who are depicted as mythical hero were and still are the ones who generally work for not only money but also for people to save them and to put things into an order. And one of the main reason which led these mythical cowboy depictions is developed out of human interest.

Work Cited

Courtwright, David. Violent Land: Single Men and Social Disorder from the Frontier to the         Inner City. Harvard University Press, 1998. Print.

“Cowboy.”. New Oxford American Dictionary. Eds. Angus Stevenson, Christine A.            Lindberg. Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Goldstock, Ronald. Guns in America, A Reader. Ed. Jan E. Dizard. New York: New York  University         Press, 1999. Print.

Lule, Jack. "Myth and Terror on the Editorial Page: The New York Times Responds to          September 11, 2001." Journalism and Mass Communications Quarterly. 2nd ed.:  2002. 275-293.

“Myth.” New Oxford American Dictionary. Eds. Angus Stevenson, Christine A. Lindberg.   Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Slotkin, Richard. "Myth and the Production of History." Ideology and Classic American       Literature. Eds. Sacvan Berkovitch and Myra Jehlen. Cambridge: Cambridge   University Press, 1987. 70-81.

Sorg, Eric. Buffalo Bill: Myth & Reality. Santa Fe: Ancient City Press. 1998.

"WESTERN MOST PROFITABLE MOVIE." Morning Bulletin. Rockhampton, Qld., 2 Aug          1950: 9. Web. 25 Dec 2013 <http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56952311>.